Lava Rock Cafe

Lava Rock Cafe holds its corner at 19-3972 Old Volcano Road in Volcano Village, a mile from the entrance to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, wrapped in ohia and bamboo. The Tripp ohana has run the room since 1997, building it out from the family's general store and quilt shop next door. The cafe is the original home of liliko'i passion fruit butter, and the liliko'i runs through the menu: butter on the buttermilk pancakes, dressing on the salads, a cheesecake that travels off the property in styrofoam clamshells. The kitchen is American and Hawaiian fusion done unpretentiously, plate lunches and burgers next to fish of the day. The crowd is park rangers, Volcano residents on a Tuesday, and visitors fresh off the Crater Rim trail. Order the liliko'i pancakes if you came for breakfast before the park. Order the liliko'i cheesecake if you came back for dinner and saved room.